Friday, August 26, 2011

Water Usage in Aquaponics

It's been a week no since Trinity Aquaponics began recording water loss in a residential sized system that we maintain for research. So far I'm very happy with the results.
The system being used to collect data is a 400 gallon, 2 raft bed system. The raft beds together equal a 3' x 8' x 1' grow space. Measures have been taken to minimize water lost to evaporation, including covering the fish tank and mineralization tank. I believe that these measures have significantly reduced water loss because of the minimal surface area of water exposed to the elements.
The average temperature where the system is located has been 97.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite the high temperatures the system has only lost 7.95 gallons over the course of the week. I'm very happy with these results and have high hopes for the continuation of this research.
A soil garden of comparable grow space would use this amount of water in a day or two in this area. A week of recording water loss is not enough time to record substantial research results. So as the research continues I will update the blog with further findings. Like I said, I have high hopes for this research and am very excited with the first week's results.